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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Book Review: The Midnight Gardener by R. G. Thomas

From The Blurb:

At fifteen, Thaddeus Cane has moved thirty-two times with his father. Each time he’s displaced without explanation, Thaddeus loses any friends he’s made. The name of their latest town is Superstition, but it seems normal enough, with one exception.

Thaddeus’s bedroom window gives him a view into the beautiful gardens next door. Every night after dark, an attractive guy around Thaddeus’s age appears to tend the plants. When Thaddeus visits his neighbor, he discovers not only how deep his interest in the other man runs, but also that Teofil, the midnight gardener, isn’t human. He’s a garden gnome, a revelation that will lead to more secrets coming to light and an adventure unlike anything Thaddeus ever imagined.

Karen's rating:

At 15 years of age Thaddeus Cane and his father, Nathan, have moved 32 times by his count and they've lived in some places that have had some pretty strange names but the town of Superstition is quite possibly the strangest one so far.

Thaddeus doesn't know why all these moves have happened but over the years he and his dad have refined the act of moving down to an art. Thaddeus has learned to travel fairly light. He doesn't have a lot except his books, they've become the constant in his life through all the moves the one thing that he can count on being there for him, they've become his friends.

He's learned not to get to attached to people because he never knows when the next move is coming so it's just not worth the effort or at least he didn't think it was until he spotted the boy next door late one night as he peeked out his bedroom window and into the neighbors backyard his attention drawn by the soft melodic humming that he could hear. Thaddeus feels drawn to this attractive and mysterious person who does their gardening after dark. It takes him a while but finally Thaddeus gets the opportunity to talk to his neighbor and what he learns is that the cute boy who lives next door and gardens at midnight isn't a boy at all but a garden gnome.

Thaddeus and Teofil are attracted to each other and they very much enjoy each others company but there seems to be some strange and dangerous things going on in the town of Superstition and for some reason Thaddeus seems to keep ending up at the center of things.

Moving to the town of Superstition is the beginning of an adventure unlike anything Taddeus cold have every imagined and it's also where he begins to feel comfortable and at home. But he's about to find out so much more than he had ever imagined things about himself and why his father has made them move so many times or at least he'll find out if he can survive being chased by a Bearagon.

'The Midnight Gardener' is the first book in the YA series 'The Town of Superstition' and introduces the reader to a magical town filled with a number of interesting and uniquely gifted people. The story flowed and kept things moving at a steady pace. I loved Thaddeus, he was in many ways your typical 15 year old but also a bit more mature than many 15 year olds. The steam in this book was very low level consisting mostly of some hand holding, a couple of sweet kisses and a hug or two. I'm not saying that Thaddeus didn't have an X-rated thought or two, I mean after all he's a 15 year old, but he was gentleman enough not to over share.

There was a lot of background to be given in this story and I thought the author did an amazing job of laying it out as part of the story there were no huge info dumps and the necessary background information was filtered in with the events of the story as they were needed.

I originally bought this book because it sounded interesting and I figured one day when I wanted something different to read I'd check it out but when the opportunity came up to review the second book in this series,'The Well of Tear', I knew it was time to read 'The Midnight Gardener' as well.

I'm definitely looking forward to 'The Well of Tears'. While 'The Midnight Gardener' took us on the beginnings of fantastic adventure it also left us with a huge cliffhanger, a wealth of unanswered questions and the beginnings of an incredibly sweet story about first love.

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A copy of this book was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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